China’s surveillance state more far-reaching than expected – China

That the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) monitors its citizens like hardly any other government is nothing new. A not-so-uncommon pastime of some of Shanghai’s sidewalk café-goers is counting the surveillance cameras that stare at you. The result is rarely one-digit. In 2020 there were around 620 million cameras monitoring every step of 1.3 billion people. Two years later, there could be even more. The cameras are not only in public places, but also at hotel entrances, karaoke bars and restaurants.

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